


It Should Be

by KandiSheek



Category: One Piece
Genre: Angst, Character Study, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, mostly sad stuff
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-01-29
Updated: 2017-02-24
Packaged: 2018-09-20 19:21:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 2,095
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9508799
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KandiSheek/pseuds/KandiSheek
Summary: More than anything their journey had taught them this. They were all they had in the end. (A Collection of 300 Word Drabbles)





	1. Distance

Sanji wasn't like them.

The others said he was though. Part of the monster trio. Insanely strong. Indestructible.

It was a fallacy. While Sanji was a respectable fighter there were things that still made him different from Zoro and Luffy. Things that seemed insignificant to the rest of the crew, but felt _huge_ to Sanji, like a gaping canyon he could never cross.

A 'spear of conviction' Zeff had called it.

Even though Sanji had his own dream to chase, he was still astonished by the lengths Luffy and Zoro were prepared to go for theirs. He wasn't like them, not really.

He was afraid.

_“I'll leave it to you, Sanji!”_

_“You'll protect me, right, Sanji-kun?”_

_“Sanji! Save me!”_

One day he would fail them. Chopper, Usopp, even his dear Nami-san... They didn't understand the burden of all these high expectations placed on him. Sanji might be reliable and yes, strong too, but he wasn't the same as Luffy. Hell, he didn't even compare!

There had been times when the sheer distance that separated Sanji from his captain and the stoic swordsman had threatened to overwhelm him with helpless, almost angry desperation. Still he went into each battle, standing next to these two monsters and hoping, _praying_ that everything would turn out alright. Because he was Black Leg fucking Sanji and he would rather die than admit defeat. Especially to Zoro.

However, sometimes on an odd day, when he felt nostalgic and maybe even a little sad, he would watch Zoro clobber Luffy over the head for falling into the sea _yet again_ , listen to Luffy's answering laughter – _Shishishi, sorry, Zoro_ – and try to ignore that little voice that kept whispering in the back of his mind.

_I wish I could be one of them._


	2. Fear

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Zoro never seems to be afraid of anything. Unless it involves Luffy.

Zoro had been taught to be fearless. Stoic. Unshakable. He was afraid of nothing.

The one person he had truly cared about was already dead and his own death was something to think about once he faced it, not beforehand. He did not fear it.

Rigorous training had made his mind sharp and focused like the blades he handled, following only one train of thought: To be the best. To reach the top where a lone man awaited his arrival. He did not fear him either.

He probably would have continued that way forever had he never been found. Had his life never changed as fundamentally as it had on the day he met the boy who held his fate in his hands.

And as life led him down a path he could've never foreseen, a path that followed a straw hat and a dream even more impossible than his own, he came to a harsh realization. It wasn't that Zoro was afraid of nothing. It was that he'd never known true fear.

He did now, as he stood before the shichibukai and bowed his head in defeat. This was true fear, the one that was not felt for yourself but for the person that mattered to you the most. He wouldn't have traded it for anything. And the pain that followed was one he was willing to take a thousand times over for the man he'd sworn his life to.

Zoro had never feared pain. He still didn't. After all pain was never a bad thing, especially when it was necessary to protect a friend. And if Zoro had learned anything in life it was that sometimes pain was nothing but a sign that you were still alive and had fulfilled your purpose.

He would never fear that. Ever.


	3. Hope

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Leaving the crew must have been one of the hardest things Robin's ever had to do in her life. But simultaneously it was the best.

They would never know.

She'd made sure of that, leaving no traces of attachment, cutting all bonds, destroying their faith in her.

It was for their sake, she told herself.

She would be okay, she told herself.

If one told a lie often enough it would eventually become the truth after all. Or so she'd heard.

Truth was, she wasn't okay. But she was determined and that was all that mattered.

_As long as they're safe,_ she thought as she followed Lucci into the impenetrable walls of Enies Lobby, _I'll gladly be left behind. For them I can bear anything._

She knew it was for the best. There were enemies that one simply could not face, not even if your name was Monkey D. Luffy. The government was a heartless, merciless organism, and it would not fear a small pirate crew like the one that she had belonged to for the past months. It was only logical what she had to do.

_They will never know._

And it was good this way. Luffy would be devastated if he realized just how much she actually depended on them, how desperately she wanted to go with them. It was ironic how Robin whose childhood had been destroyed at the age of eight now brought destruction upon everything she loved all by herself. The world had ruined her that way. She knew that.

_But they will never know._

And it would stay that way. This right here was her last ditch effort to fight back against the government that had taken everything from her. If she could just give Luffy a chance to escape she could still hold on to the hope that one day this man would change the world. She knew he would.

Because sometimes fate lay in a name. Dereshishishi.


	4. Failure

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Usopp had thought that the biggest failure of his life had gone and passed with Water 7. He was proven wrong.

Usopp could only stare. Blank space. Nothing. _Nothing._

_Where is he_ , he might have screamed, or just wordlessly wailed in desperation. This was all wrong, so terribly wrong, but it was his fault and Luffy- God, Luffy-

_ZOROOOOOO!!_

Luffy screamed and cried and punched and kicked and still all Usopp could do was run. He'd failed his friends and Zoro might be- But that was impossible, Zoro was- and _Luffy_ was-

_GIVE HIM BACK!!_

Usopp should be the one fighting, should scream not in terror but anger, should thirst for bloody murder and seek revenge for his comrade. But still he could do nothing but run away as around him they started disappearing, one by one just like Zoro until it was his turn and he was flying, _flying..._

Days blurred together until he landed hard on his back, staring blankly at the sky with his arms coming up to cover his face, pushing back against the tears threatening to break through. He knew this feeling. Knew the smell, the taste, wore it like a second skin. This was defeat.

Usopp had made many choices in his life. Some had been good, like joining Luffy's crew, and some had been bad. He liked to think that he had a good base of experience now and could handle himself in a stressful situation. Would know by instinct the right thing to do.

He'd been confident in his decision then too. That was what hurt the most as he went through his daily training and recalled time and time again how Zoro had disappeared right before his eyes. That even though he'd made the right choice and not given up on his nakama... it had done nothing.

Because Usopp was weak. But he wouldn't be much longer.

He still had two years.


	5. Warmth

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You didn't notice these things until they were gone. And two years gave Nami plenty of time to realize just how much they mattered.

She'd never been cold in Alabasta.

Even at night, when the air was freezing and her hands had been shaking so badly that they'd started to cramp against her blanket she had not been cold. Not on Drum Island either, when her teeth had chattered so hard that it hurt, when her fever had skyrocketed and sent her into a delirious state.

Sure, she'd felt cold at the time, with the freezing air turning her bones stiff, making her feel like a vice was gripping her insides with ice-cold fingers. She'd cursed the climate back then, wrapped herself in blankets and waited it out, just like she had on the dark and lonely nights back at Arlong Park.

But she'd never been cold back then.

Now that the warmth was gone she felt it. She'd never noticed it before, not really, how it wasn't the sun or the light that warmed her, but stories of fantastic tales, an extra dollop of heart-shaped cream in her dessert, the sound of weapons clinking together or a smile from under the rim of a straw hat. She'd had that warmth and taken it for granted and it took losing it for her to truly understand its value.

These nights, spent high in the clouds above a Summer island, wrapped snugly in the softest duvet, she felt colder than she ever had before. She knew that this cold wouldn't go away, not until she was back with the people who had become her home. But she could bear it. Because somewhere below her on the wide ocean was a boy suffering and freezing alone, who had lost his brother and told her to become strong enough to not bear the same fate. She knew how cold he felt.

And she would keep him warm.


	6. Whisper

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With Brook by his side life was always easy and fun for Yorki, until someday it wasn't.

He was a loud person, both in song and laughter and behavior, who liked to dance across deck and shout his joy to the sky. When Yorki had first seen him, humming a song under his breath as he sauntered through the streets, he'd known. This man was his first mate.

And when he'd asked Brook to come with him the man had laughed _Yohoho_ , tipped his hat and followed. It had been that simple.

Life with Brook was colorful, playful. The tall man found fascination even in the smallest, most insignificant of things and then opened everyone else's eyes to their beauty. On dull nights he played his violin, pouring heart and soul into the notes that danced through the room like physical entities. Yorki loved to listen to him, to fill his heart with sound and song. Whenever the road got tough and the world weighed on his shoulders Brook lightened his burden with such effortless implicitness that Yorki couldn't even begin to know how to thank him. Just knowing that someone was there to catch him if he ever fell was what gave him the strength to always keep going.

Their goodbye had been loud too, Brook shouting promises and gratitude and all the words Yorki needed to hear. And Yorki had smiled and made one last request simply because he knew he couldn't go before hearing it one last time, his favorite song from his first mate's lips.

He loved that Brook was loud. Now more so than ever. Because now that he was forced to let go of everything he had built for himself he could only hear Brook, drowning out the sound of his own despair and the whispers in his head that kept calling out to him.

_I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry..._


	7. Strength

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The pain was unbearable, but he just knew that somewhere along the line it would probably come in handy.

The light was too bright on his eyes. Every bone in his body felt like it was twisted and shattered into pieces and somehow it was only Doctorine's voice that pierced through the thick fog clouding his brain, telling him to _Wake up, goddammit! Wake up!_

Chopper whimpered against the pain of too strong smells, the too rough touches on far too sensitive skin. Everything was too much. _You idiot, why did you-...dangerous-...told you about mixing drugs, you-..._

When he woke up he felt as though he'd been asleep for days. His bones ached and his fur itched, but Doctorine was there _Never, ever, for the love of God, never again, you hear me?_

He tried to remember what happened, but his mind came up blank. He knew for a fact that his first two experiments had gone fine. The third one though...

Chopper touched his forehead as he tried to remember and kept failing until Doctorine filled him in. Monster, she said. He'd turned into a monster.

As he sat by the gates of her – _their_ – castle, he tried to remember how it had felt, the loss of control, the raw strength in his muscles. But all his brain could come up with was that one damning word.

Monster.

Chopper clutched his own arms and shivered. He was afraid of becoming what everyone already thought him to be. He'd rather die than prove them right. Nothing and nobody would ever get him to go through that kind of pain again.

Years later as he stood on the precipice, one decision away from making or breaking their mission, he had swallowed the bitter pill without a second thought. Because sailing with them had made him realize one thing.

Strength didn't lie in blood and bones. But in determination.


End file.
